


Happiness

by AoiTsukikage



Category: DREAM!ing (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Future Fic, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-10 03:36:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17418326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AoiTsukikage/pseuds/AoiTsukikage
Summary: Shigure really should have expected that Rintaro would find a way back into his life.  He just didn't think it would happen likethis.





	Happiness

**Author's Note:**

> This is essentially a sequel to [Serious](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17336276) so I'd recommend reading that fic first!

Coming back to Japan was never in his plans.  

Oh, sure, he guessed that he’d have to return at some point, but given how unsafe it currently was for members of his family to be seen roaming the streets there, staying in Italy was a much more appealing prospect.  

However, business was business, and while he had no doubt there were a startling number of yakuza who would be paid handsomely if they were to kill him, others were more interested in making deals and somehow it happens that he’s the only one available for what may turn out to be a very lucrative meeting.  

He’d been assured that his safety was of paramount importance and that ‘local security’ who knew the area better than his usual bodyguards would meet him at the airport, but one look at said ‘local security’ makes him want to turn right back around and demand the pilot fly him back to Europe.  

Because ‘local security’ happens to be his sort-of ex that he hasn’t spoken to in over five years.

His sort-of ex who has seemingly abandoned all protocol and instead of behaving like hired muscle has decided to sweep him up in a hug that has all the feelings he’d suppressed for so long slamming back into him hard enough to take his breath away.  

“Please control yourself,” he mutters, low enough that the rest of his entourage can’t hear, but he _knows_ they’re watching and this is setting a very bad example.  

“Sorry, sorry!” Rintaro lets him go, holding him at arm’s length and looking positively _ecstatic,_ and Shigure just hopes this whole ordeal can be over and done with in a couple of days.  

He can keep himself under control for that long.

...At least, he truly hopes he can.  

-

He’s feeling a lot less certain of this about twelve hours later, the air in the room hot and heavy with the smell of sex and sweat still cooling on his body.  

Rintaro had disappeared to the bathroom to grab something to clean up with, a noticeable bounce in his step, and really all Shigure can say for him is that he’s rather amazed he’d behaved the entire ride to their safe-house.  

It’s owned by his family, of course, but it’s a quaint little place out in the countryside and while as his primary bodyguard Rintaro’s quarters were connected to his own, they didn’t have to be _this_ close.  

...not that Shigure can fully blame the other man, of course, since he was a rather willing participant in the moment, but he _knows_ what a bad idea it is to get involved again and the fact that he’s so weak to Rintaro has always been something here ’s struggled with.  

It makes him feel like a teenager again, like he had for those few brief months before Rintaro graduated and his wanderlust had overtaken him.  Shigure’s saving grace back then had been the fact that he’d gotten involved knowing that it would inevitably end so it’s not as if his heart had broken when it did.  

That doesn’t mean he’s stopped thinking about Rintaro, though.  There’s always been a tiny, selfish part of him that had _hoped_ one day their paths would cross like this but he’d never honestly expected it to happen. 

“Here we go!” Rintaro dashes back out of the bathroom, a wet cloth in his hand.  “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

“No,” Shigure sits up, holding his hand out and taking the cloth when it’s passed over.  Rintaro looks slightly disappointed but this kind of aftercare is altogether too intimate for the kind of relationship they need to have and he’s not falling into some sort of trap again.  

(His mind stubbornly informs him that sleeping with Rintaro means he’s already fallen into a trap of sorts but he chooses to ignore that).  

“I hope that gave you what you wanted.”

“Yep!” Rintaro, apparently, has gotten absolutely no better at reading the mood and proceeds to flop on him.  “It did for you too though, right?”

“I…” Shigure breathes out slowly, his fingers finding Rintaro’s - shorter but still neon-colored - hair and stroking through it absently.  “It was passable.”

“Damn, I’ve gotta work on my moves, then,” Rintaro laughs and kisses his shoulder, humming happily.  “I’ve wanted this for a long time. Shigure-chan,” he murmurs.

“Don’t,” Shigure says, but his fingers never falter.  “This was merely the result of many years of built-up tension.”

And it’s _true,_ in a way, considering they never really got beyond some admittedly heated make-out sessions in the past, but they were young then and now?

Now they’re adults.  Now there’s no excuse for letting their hormones run rampant like this.  

“You haven’t changed, huh?” Rintaro pushes himself up, grasping Shigure’s jaw gently and kissing him.  “You still aren’t letting yourself be happy.”

“My happiness isn’t my priority,” Shigure replies, the words almost robotic, but his life has a fairly set course and the sooner he accepts that and leaves any sort of frivolous childhood dreams he may still be clinging onto in the past, the better it will be for him going forward.  

“It’s mine,” Rintaro says it so seriously that Shigure feels his stomach swoop and has to literally grab the sheets for support.  

Damn him.  Damn him for still being able to make Shigure weak so easily.  

“Tell me honestly: would this make you happy?” Rintaro’s eyes are almost luminous in the moonlight and Shigure kisses him deeply instead of replying, hoping that conveys both his hopes and his fears properly.  “I knew it!”

“It can’t be that simple,” Shigure sighs and lies back against the pillows.  The bed is plush and soft and between that under him and Rintaro’s unwavering warmth on top of him sleep is creeping up quickly.  

‘It won’t be,” Rintaro admits, and somehow hearing him be so honest makes Shigure feel better.  Rintaro wouldn’t be putting this much effort in if he wasn’t serious, after all, which gives him a tiny measure of comfort.  “But you and me could be pretty powerful together.”

“Mm,” Shigure yawns, tugging Rintaro closer unconsciously.  “Sorry.”

“You had a long flight,” Rintaro sounds amused, kissing his brow.  “Sleep, my brilliant, beautiful Shigure-chan. Nothing will get in here as long as I'm watching over you!”

And Shigure, as always against his better judgment when it comes to his man, can do nothing but trust him.  

-

The meeting goes off without a hitch.  

And he’ll blame it on the euphoria of knowing he’s just closed a major deal, but the truth is he lets his guard down and doesn’t register the popping sound of gunshots as actually being what they are until he’s lying on the ground with Rintaro on top of him.  

He feels dazed, probably from knocking his head against the sidewalk.  His hands are instinctively gripping the older man’s back and that would be fine except there’s something wet and warm and sticky under his fingers that damn near makes his heart stop.  

“See...told you I’d take a bullet for you…” Rintaro's still smiling, the look fading to a pained grimace as Shigure stares at him in shock.  “Are you okay?”

“I...you…” is all he can manage before he hears a lot of hurried footsteps and somehow he ends up in an armored car, his body still frozen.  He looks down and all he can see is _red_ , covering his hands and dotting the once-pristine white of his dress shirt.

He barely hears the driver speaking to him but his last coherent thought over the sound of tires screeching is that this is one thing he never, _ever_ wanted Rintaro to be serious about.  

-

It’s late.  

By all rights visiting hours should be over, and he has a feeling that for most normal people they would be, but he barely has to show up at the reception desk to be ushered into the hospital proper.  

Even so, he’s as disguised as he can be - a knitted cap pulled low over his hair, a mask over his face, sunglasses covering his distinctive eyes - but the group he’d just made a deal with had assured him that the people who’d shot were their enemies and he just happened to be caught in the crossfire coming out of one of their hideaways.  

He’ll believe it, for now, since it doesn’t seem as if they were followed after the fact.  

He begins to grow suspicious again when the room he’s directed to looks more like a fancy condo than a hospital room, and he’s about to turn around and walk out again when he catches sight of a tiny stuffed dog on one of the couches.

A very familiar dog, seeing as how he was the one who’d originally purchased it, and he can feel the stress and worry of the day catch up with him again as he collapses into the soft cushions.  

“Shigure?”

“Shinya.  I should have known,” he pulls the mask off and removes his glasses, shaking his hair free from the hat.  

“Hey!” Shinya grins at him from across the room, crossing over quickly and wrapping his arms around the other man.  “Missed you.”

“Likewise,” Shigure returns the hug without much protest, sinking into the safety that Shinya’s always given him.  Even all these years later, it’s hard for him to remember a time he was happier than when they were roommates back at school.

Huh.  There’s that word again: happiness.

Maybe Rintaro really _was_ onto something.  

And Shinya’s somebody he _has_ kept in contact with, albeit not as often as he probably should have.  He’d even offered to move to Italy and be Shigure’s resident family doctor, but for his own safety (see: because Yuni would be around) Shigure had recommended he stay in Japan instead.  

It’s been hard, closing himself off entirely from his old life, but out of necessity he’d managed - until this trip, that is.

“How is he?” he asks quietly, not sure if he really wants to know.  

“Do you want the medical answer or the simple answer?” Shinya asks, sounding more amused than be would be if it was anything serious.  

“Whatever you think I can handle,” Shigure finally lets go and moves back a little, though he doesn’t protest when Shinya keeps holding his hand.  

“It could have been a lot worse,” Shinya admits.  “Shoulder injuries aren’t as simple as they seem, but because he was moving it avoided the bullets directly hitting his shoulder blade and shattering it.  One of them skimmed his brachial plexus which was the biggest issue, so we did surgery to-“ he stops and laughs, squeezing Shigure’s hand. “I lost you, huh?”

“A bit,” Shigure admits.  “I know you’re a genius when it comes to this, but I’m not used to seeing it,” he shakes his head.  

“The brachial plexus is basically a nerve bundle,” Shinya explains patiently.  “It controls arm movement, so he probably won’t be doing any fighting soon. We’ll have to see how it is when he wakes up but if there’s sensory or mobility issues he’ll have to go to physical therapy.  It's probably the best case scenario, considering what could have happened.”

Shigure let’s out a breath he hasn’t even realized he’s been holding, but he knows Shinya knows what he’s doing and that Rintaro will be alright.  Still…

“You’re blaming yourself.  Don’t,” Shinya yanks him closer again.  “He was hired to protect you, right? And he did.”

“I never asked him to,” Shigure knows that’s a weak excuse because that’s what bodyguards _do,_ but some random hired hand getting hurt for his sake is a lot different than somebody he l...

He stops his thoughts there, because there’s no point in making this into something it’s not.  

“Maybe.  But he wanted to,” Shinya smiles at him and stands up, managing to trip on the edge of the carpet sticking out from underneath the coffee table and flailing rather spectacularly until Shigure catches the back of his scrubs and hauls him upright again.  

“Thanks!  Guess some things don’t change, huh?” Shinya looks slightly embarrassed but this is certainly closer to what Shigure is used to dealing with.  “Oh! There’s a kitchen through there, I stay here sometimes if we’re having a busy night, so if you want to…”

“You’ve just missed my food,” Shigure replies and Shinya bounds after him like an eager puppy, not denying it at all.  

Although, cooking might actually help take his mind off of things, so it’s probably not a bad idea in the end.  

-

He gets to see Rintaro the next morning.  

He looks alright, sitting up in bed and gazing out the window, although his arm is wrapped up and held immobile and Shigure is betting that he’s not exactly happy about this turn of events.  

“Shigure-chan!” he brightens up immediately, patting the bed with his good hand.  Shigure glances toward the chair placed beside the bed before deciding that this time he’ll bend to Rintaro’s will - just because he’s injured, mind you - and sits down as close as he can.  

”I'm s-"

“If you’re going to apologize, save your breath,” Rintaro says it gently, sliding his hand over Shigure’s and lacing their fingers together.  “What kind of hero would I be if I couldn’t save the most important person in my life?”

And Shigure’s stomach does that damn swooping thing again, his mind flashing back to the night before and the admission he’d almost made to himself about lov-

No.  

He can’t.

“Regardless, I spoke to Shinya and he seems certain that you’ll fully recover,” he abruptly changes the subject, ignoring the tiny flash of hurt and surprise in Rintaro’s eyes.  

“Oh!  Yeah! I guess my arm’s kinda messed up but I can move my fingers,” he wiggles them and grins like he’s just done the most amazing trick ever.  “See?”

“That’s good.  I’m sure you’ll heal up fine,” Shigure pulls his hand away and stands up.  “I mostly came to tell you that my work here in Japan is finished and I’ll be heading back home as soon as possible.”

“Ah.  I don’t think that will work,” Rintaro’s regarding him seriously and he tries to shift closer, grimacing when it ends up pulling his shoulder.  “You see, this wasn’t a temporary hire.  I’m your permanent bodyguard, and so I can’t let you leave the country without me.”

Shigure doesn't reply, because he has no response to this.  

How _could_ he have a response to this?

Because _this_ implies that Rintaro not only had planned this in advance, but had contacted his family and used his past connections to get in.  It’s a reminder how calculating he can actually be under his carefree exterior and Shigure despises the fact that he finds it attractive.  

“So what are you saying?  That you’re holding me hostage?”

“It could be fun, right?” Rintaro winks and Shigure laughs despite himself.  “But maybe that should wait until after I’m feeling better.”

“You’re impossible,” Shigue sits down again, not resisting when Rintaro tugs him closer.  “You’re going to find your way into my life one way or another, aren’t you?”

“We’ve lost five years already.  I don’t want to waste any more,” Rintaro kisses him, and there’s so much underlying affection and relief that Shigure feels his emotions rising again and damn near has to blink away tears.  

He’s not crying.  He won’t cry over _Kuma Rintaro_ of all people.  

(It’s beside the point that he _did_ cry the night before after getting into the bed Shinya had led him to because Shinya won’t tell anyone so, really, it's like it never happened).

“I suppose I have no choice, then,” Shigure is almost surprised to realize that he actually doesn’t mind being outwitted this time.  “And if I’m being truthful, there’s really no reason for me to rush back. It might be nice to relax here for a bit."

“Cool,” Rintaro keeps smiling as they kiss again, a tiny grunt of pain slipping from his lips when he tries to lean in.  “Ah. I think we’ll have to take it easy for a while.”

“What a shame,” Shigure says it as dryly as he can, one finger sliding under Rintaro’s chin to tilt his head up.  “I guess your punishment for trying to deceive me will have to wait.”

Rintaro shivers at that, his eyes never leaving Shigure’s, and Shigure realizes how _comfortable_ this is.  They’re older and more world-weary and not in high school anymore, but in some ways it’s like the time they were apart didn’t matter because they’re here now.  

“Hey, Shigure-chan?” Rintaro asks softly.  “Are you happy?”

“Yes,” Shigure nods, leaning to rest their foreheads together and feeling Rintaro’s warm, _alive_ breath against his face.  “Yes, this time, I truly believe I am.”

**Author's Note:**

> I had so much fun with these two that I had to write more about them, and inevitably with me 'more' means 'angsty future fic' but I hope this was enjoyable to read!
> 
> As always, please feel free to comment if you enjoyed and I'm [here](http://twitter.com/_mikarashis) on twitter as well.


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